The Year of the Everlasting Storm 2021

6.6 / 10   8 vote(s)
Drama Mystery

Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, the film chronicles this unprecedented moment in time, and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.

Homepage https://neonrated.com/films/the-year-of-the-everlasting-storm
Release Date 2021-09-03
Runtime 1h 55m
Directors David Lowery, Jafar Panahi, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, Jafar Panahi, Tahereh Saidi Balsini, Lv Qing, Yay'Veontay Jones, Bobby Levi Jones, Imani Jones, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, Inti Briones, Bobby Yay Yay Jones
Producers Brad Becker-Parton, Jeff Deutchman, David Kaplan, Jafar Panahi, Tom Quinn, Andrea Roa, Anthony Chen, Meng Xie, Laura Poitras, Yoni Golijov
Writers Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, David Lowery

I read the reviews and poor scores for this film so my expectations were low. But somewhere after the first couple stories, I asked myself the same question as these filmmakers did: "Tell me how you really feel about 2020 in 20 minutes?" I myself would've been at a loss. The question yields another perspective and appreciation for these stories. Even Lowery's it-takes-a-pandemic-to-get-me-to-dig-up-my-dead-brother wasn't bad. Chen's comment on the dramatic pandemic-related increase of domestic violence was spot on. Panahi's biopic of how our elders suffer differently than us was touching. Vitthal's heartwarming personal story just reminds us of the continuing class difference even in how the pandemic affected us. The pièce de résistance was, of course, the duality of Weerasethakul's Buddhist world-view that insects don't give a shit about your pandemic ego, dude. And Poitras? Well, I'm in the business. It's worse, and way more dangerous, than she says.

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